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Gangsters Strategy Guide
by "Madd" Matt Jedrych
Version 4.69 - 11/13/99
What all is in here?
I. Intro
a) The Game
b) What's New?
II. Getting Started
a) First Orders
b) The Hoods
III. Moving On In The Game
a) Buying Businesses
b) Illegal Businesses
c) Accountants & Lawyers
d) The Election
IV. Your Opposition
a) Other Gangs
b) Those Damn Cops
V. Smart Keys
VI. Frequently Asked Questions
VII. The Cheats
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I. Intro
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a) The Game
Gangsters is a game of city wide domination. It varies from giving
orders, running business, dealing with other gangs and cops,
committing crimes, and doing whatever it takes to gain income. It
may sound hard trying to all this, but it's not... well, it won't be
if you read this damn strategy guide I wrote up. Mainly, I learned
these things either by myself, or by flipping through the Gangsters
manual. Heck, a lot of it was taken from the manual.. but that's
how I learned how to play the game. Everything else is original,
nothing was stolen.. hell, to my knowledge, this is the only
Gangsters FAQ out there.
Now, for the game specifics...
Platform: Win95
Publisher: Eidos
Developer: Hothouse Creations
Genre: Strategy
Origin: U.K.
Max. Number of Players: 4
Online Support: YES
Minimum Requirements: Pentium 133MHz; 4xCD-ROM; 16 MB RAM; 2 MB SVGA;
DirectX-6.0
b) What's New?
Let's take a look...
Version .69 - 2/24/99:
This was the first one I threw together. It had just the basic
strategy guide alone, nothing special. This was about a month after
I got the game and at that point, I was very interested in it.
Version 1.69 - 3/22/99:
This came out only about a month after the first version and I added
the hot keys to it as well as a Q & A section. I had been getting
many, many, many questions, so I decided to answer them. At this
point, I was still interested in the game, greatly.
Version 4.69 - This one:
Can you see the time difference? This was thrown together 8 months
after the last one and I'm doing this one for a single reason. To
answer more questions. Also, folks... I haven't played the game in
over four months, and EVERYTHING I know is in here. SO, if you're
question isn't answered here, chances are that I won't know it. Also,
I added a cheats section.
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II. Getting Started
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a) First Orders
You first orders should be to extort and recruit. Those two things
should be all you're doing in the first week. In the second, you
should add Money Collection to your priorities. Hence, the main
three things to think of at start are: collecting money, getting
more territory (by extorting) and recruiting new hoods. Protecting
your area is something you could consider, but it isn't necessary
since in the first weeks nobody will be starting a war.. not yet.
b) The Hoods
Your boys, your gang, your men. You need to use these guys in the
right way, or your orders will fail time and time again. The gang
leaders are called Lieutenants, and should always be high in two
things: intelligence and organization. Along with that should be
a high rating in the skill needed for his team's task (ex. the
Lieutenant of an extortion team should have a high intimidation
factor).
At start, you should build four teams. One for protection,
extortion, money collection and another for recruiting. The
protection is the team that will guard businesses and patrol your
territory. The hoods in this group should have high rating in
firearms (at least four stars), and a good rating in fists would
help as well. The extortion team will get more territory, and each
hood in it should have at least four stars in intimidation. The
recruiting team should include gangsters with high ratings in
intelligence. As for the collectors team, it doesn't really matter
since anyone can collect cash.
Equipping your Lieutenants is important, and you should consider
whether they actually need guns or vehicles. Give weapons to those
who really might need it- patrol teams and gangs that are going in
to commit a crime. Give guns to the people who have a rating in
firearms of at least four stars- they'll know how to use it best.
As for vehicles, give them only to the people who you are sending
far away. Cars don't come cheap- use them wisely.
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III. Moving On In The Game
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a) Buying Businesses
Once you have some dough, think about buying a business. This
brings in legal money. Since the business are legal, the FBI
won't raid them as they would your illegal businesses. Legal
cash will hide the amount of illegal money you have, somewhat.
If you're making too much illegal money, the FBI will get
suspicious- not something you want. However, if you have a good
accountant, you don't have to worry about this- a good accountant
can cover up the amount of illegal money you pull in.
Buying a legal business it pretty simple, and you don't need to
worry about sending someone to run it- it's automatically done
for you.
b) Illegal Businesses
Once you feel like it, set up some of these. However, as with
normal businesses, you have to place them correctly (ex. a casino
would go in a wealthy area, prizefights go in poor areas). Want
to know more? Hell, I'm a nice guy...
Card Games: put these only in the poor areas. Best location for
card games is a pool hall or a book store.
Counterfeit: these won't bring in any profit, but will be
spread out throughout your legal businesses. The best location
for this is the Printer, however the Bank is fine as well.
Casinos: put these in wealthy areas and you'll get tons of
cash. The Main Bank is the best location.
Gambling Den: let's just call this "the casino for the poor."
The best location is the pool hall.
Dice Games: these go in the real poor areas of town. The best
location is either a pool hall or a hotel.
Insider Trading: these belong in the commercial centre. Good
locations are finance companies, banks and real estate.
Loan Sharks: these can be anywhere in the city, but do best
in banks, real estate and finance companies.
Grifters: also known as pickpockets. They belong in the poor
areas of the city, and the best locations are poll halls.
Moonshine Stills: no profit comes from these, but they are
essential for your speakeasies. Best places to put them are
drug stores.
Speakeasy: probably the best illegal businesses. It gets
its liquor either from the moonshine stills, or you can steal
it from other places. These can be easily hid in breakfast
bars, cafes, milk bars and restaurants.
Teamsters: can only be set up behind the Union Building. This
will let you control the strike of the industrial area and
can also call on the block vote during an election.
Prizefights: boxing and gambling make a good couple. Doesn't
matter what part of town they go in, as long as they are
located in a gym or pool hall.
Numbers Racket: the lottery with one catch- it's fixed so that
nobody ever wins. They do best in poorer areas and should be
located in general stores, cafes or printers.
Whorehouses: these can go anywhere in the city, since everyone
wants to get laid =) Good locations are dance studios, massage
parlors and hotels.
Offices: no profit here, but they are important. Your hoods
will depart for their jobs from the local office, so having
more then one can improve your gang efficiency.
c) Accountants and Lawyers
You should get both of these early in the game. The accountant
covers up your illegal money, preventing an FBI raid. The more
stars an accountant has, the better he is at this.
A good lawyer is also a necessity. He helps keep your men out of
prison and bribe officials.
d) The Election
If you decide to enter an election once it comes around, you'll
need three things: an excellent lawyer, lots of cash and lots of
land. Something to try is reducing the protection money, which
will make the people happy and get more votes for you. As said
before, the Teamster building helps you in the election. It will
automatically give you at most 10% of the votes.
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IV. Your Opposition
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a) Other Gangs
If they're bothering you, you'll have to take care of them- at one
point or another. First off, try locating their office. Explore,
and do it often. Try exploring areas in which you often see the
opposing hoods, and sends a lot of people at once. Kidnapping
is another way of finding the enemy base. To do this, you must
find a building in which you often see the opposing hoods. Pulling
this off will require a group of hoods that have high ratings in
intelligence, intimidation, stealth, firearms, and organization.
Succeed, and you will gain a list of businesses owned by the enemy.
Investigate these buildings.
Once you find the office, decide what you really want to do. You
can try to get the leader arrested. Destroying that gang's legal
business will increase the suspicion of the police towards that
gang. If the suspicion gets real high, the leader will get
arrested. You can also take the hard way to it- kill the leader.
If you decide to do just that, make sure you send a lot of hoods,
make sure they have vehicles and guns, and make sure you have a lot
of cash to get new hoods since many of yours will get killed. Send
every hood that you can, and hit 'em with all you got.
b) Those Damn Cops
There's no way around this- the cops will be after you. They patrol
the city every week looking for crimes, or those who are accused
of it.
Watch out for FBI agents near your businesses. If you see a group
of them, you better get ready 'cause they're about to raid your
illegal business. You can either attack them, or let them go forth
with their actions if you have enough money to bribe the Judge to
get yourself out of trouble. If you see an agent who is solo, it
means that the FBI has some suspicion towards you. Either kill him,
or close down the illegal business.
If one of your men gets arrested, bribe the judge. OR, you can
bribe the District Attorney. By doing this, you'll get the names
of the witnesses and jurors. You can either bribe them, or
intimidate them... and if they don't work with you, you can kill
them.
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V. Smart Keys
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It's a lot easier sometimes to use your keyboard as a shortcut to
perform several actions, rather then having to do them using your
mouse. The following list comes straight from the Gangsters readme
text file.
THE GANG ORGANIZER
FUNCTION KEY
Help ?
Lieutenant Section F1
Accountant Section F2
Lawyer Section F3
Diplomacy Section F4
Newspaper F5
Graphs F6
City Maps F7
Game Options F8
Toggle City Plan / Rooftop view Space
Lieutenant 1 1
Lieutenant 2 2
Lieutenant 3 3
Lieutenant 4 4
Lieutenant 5 5
Lieutenant 6 6
Lieutenant 7 7
Lieutenant 8 8
Open Clipboard C
Hoods Section H
Vehicles Section V
Weapons Section W
Confirm Return / Enter
Reject Escape
Load Game CTRL+L
Save Game CTRL+S
Messages. (Multiplayer only) F9 to F12
Close Chat Window (Multiplayer only) Tab
Quit CTRL+Q
THE WORKING WEEK
FUNCTION KEY
Help ?
Pause P
City Plan Insert
Rooftop View Home
Street View Page Up
Toggle Street View / Rooftop View Space Bar
Cycle gangsters from team 1 1
Cycle gangsters from team 2 2
Cycle gangsters from team 3 3
Cycle gangsters from team 4 4
Cycle gangsters from team 5 5
Cycle gangsters from team 6 6
Cycle gangsters from team 7 7
Cycle gangsters from team 8 8
Accelerate time by one step >
Decelerate time by one step <
Remove / Replace buildings B
Kill Street Order F1
Assault Street Order F2
Tail Street Order F3
Go to Street Order F4
Cancel Street Order Escape
View Combat Messages F5
View Gangsters and Police Messages F6
View Failed Orders Messages F7
View Waiting / Priority Messages F8
Messages. (Multiplayer only) F9 to F12
Close Chat Window (Multiplayer only) Tab
Quit CTRL+Q
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VI. Frequently Asked Questions
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Since putting out this FAQ, I've gotten quite a few questions. I've
decided to answer them through here as a future referance for any
others who may need my assistance.
Q: I want to know that how can i recruit accountant and lawyer???
A: Quite simple... just order your hoods to recruit. Then, to the
left of the map (on the bottom) you should see three icons. Each
one is for hoods, lawyers and accountants. Take your choice, and
you're set.
Q: (a) How can I do illegal business???
(b) I was Wondering how to setup an illegal business, my icon for
setup business wound show up.
A: To set up an illegal business, you'll need a front (or a legal
business) and an empty lot in the center of a block on which the
business is located. Pretty simple. Then, and ONLY then will
the icon become clickable.
Q: How do I make my hoods to be teamsters, speakeasy, moonshine
stalls???
A: The things listed are illegal business. Hoods can't "become"
them. Info on how to set up illegal businesses is above this Q.
Q: Are there any cheats in Gangsters?
A: Not that I'm aware of, and I've been searching hard.
Q: Are you interested in playing on-line against me?
A: No, I don't even play this game anymore.
Q: (a) I just bought gangsters few days ago. I tried playing but
every time i start a new game or scenario, all of my hoods are
behind bars, i cant use any of them. I tried waiting a few turns,
but then i get killed. Some of the scenarios, i can get hoods,
but then after 1 week (the first week), they are all arrested.
(b) I've just started out a new game...and all the hood I've got
have got bars in front of their faces and I can't make them do
anything...please help out...
(c) Why the &%(@ are all my hoods in JAIL?! I just started a new
game and they're all locked up!! WHAT THE %&@( IS GOING ON?!
(d) When the game starts, all of the gangsters in the pool are
behind bars, how do i get them out? I can't give them orders or
upgrade them when they're like that.
A: This is what happens if you have an illegal copy of the game, you
damn poor bastards. Get some cash and buy the full copy!
Q: the other gangsters keep moving in on my territory...why is this?
what is the best way to stop this from happening short of killing
the bastards? I'm looking for their bases so I can do just that
but there must be some other way to stop them in the meantime.
A: There's no way to stop other gangs from moving onto your
territory. Everyone wants to explore and find new buildings to
extort. The best thing to do at first is just to leave them the
hell alone. There's no need to start a war just because one
or two hoods are cruising around your land. However, if it
pisses you off... then KILL 'EM ALL. In this game, it's all about
the survival of the quickest.
Q: I have a question that i don't think I found in the page. I have
problems with stubborn store owners who don't pay their freakin'
collection. I have hard times finding out who's not up to the
offer. I tried looking in the clipboard, then under storeowners.
I see the empty icon that says "Won't pay protection." How come
its empty when I know someone isn't paying? Do I have to bribe
someone to get the list or something?
A: Simply go back to the previous week's order, and flip through
the cards. Whenever there is someone who didn't pay their
collection, it will be specified. A name IS given, so write that
name down, or remember it, and where that person is located. Then
you can kill, intimidate, bomb, or whatever you want to do to
them. If their building isn't available for a crime (and I do
not know why that happens sometimes), simply try getting your
collection again.
Q: what does raiding do? does it help you, or hurt you?
A: Raiding is simply put- a robbery. You can get a great deal of
money through this, but obviously only if you rob places that
you know make a lot of money. Places like this would be the large
banks and hotels.
Q: It seems that the FBI are only very suspicious about me, and not
the other gangs. After week 2 I mostly land up in jail! Do you
know what I do wrong?
A: If you're extorting a LOT and pulling in tons of illegal cash
right away, the FBI is bound to have high suspicion towards you.
Try to set up some legal businesses or get a good accountant to
cover up the illegal money. As for you ending up in jail already
by week 2... eeh.. I have no clue why you'd get sent to jail so
quickly, unless you're committing crimes right from the start.
Q: Hi, Can u explain how I take my hoods out of jail?
A: If one of your men gets arrested, bribe the judge... blah, blah,
blah. Grrr... I explained that already. Look under section IV,
part B. Try reading the FAQ before asking a question.
Q: What if I have even more questions?
A: If it hasn't been answered here, I most likely don't know the
answer. To be honest, I haven't touched this game in about four
months... but if you must, than send your questions to me at
SimFreak@aol.com.
Q: Hey, can you send me Gangsters?
A: Well... maybe if... NO!
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VII. Cheats
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Here they are, hooray (thanks to GameSages)!
-> Easy $50,000
Go to the Liutenant screen, than after hitting the CAPS LOCK
key, type in I LOVE HANSON. Than, if you're current amount
of cash it under $50,000, than that's how much you'll get.
-> Easy $3,000
Once again, go the the Liutenant screen. Once there, press
D + A + R + T and voila!
-> Money & Hoods Cheat
Go to 'Run' in the Windows 98 Start Menu and type regedit.
Now click through the following folders...
1. hkey_local_machine
2. Software
3. Hothouse
4. Gangsters
At 'Default Money,' change 2710 to 207101FF for about
544,000,000 bucks!!
At 'Default Hoods,' change A to FF to start with 255 hoods!!
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>>> E-mail me... SimFreak@aol.com <<<
If you copy this strategy guide and try to take credit for it, I will
rip your heart out, and feed it to a mad goat who will then proceed to
wildly rape you. Got it? Good.
If you're interested in using this little FAQ of mine on your website,
simply e-mail me and ask. I won't bite... most likely. Redistribution
of it, especially for profit is forbidden, and will not be tolerated.
If you chose to do so, I will personally wipe out your entire family.
Copyright 1999 Mathew Jedrych